Asset Mapping Identifies Community's Businesses, Organizations

Ernest Sanders
Published: August 23, 2010

The Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation (GADC) in partnership with faculty and staff of the University of Chicago’s Urban Health Initiative: South Side Health and Vitality Studies conducted a mapping of assets in Auburn Gresham and surrounding communities. The purpose of this study was to better understand how these resources and services affect the health of South Side communities.

In a collaboration with After School Matters (ASM), ten GADC student interns and one instructor/supervisor received stipends from ASM to map Auburn Gresham and a portion of Englewood.

As part of their daily engagement of these communities, students 1) walked or drove up and down city blocks collecting information about neighborhood resources, 2) checked addresses with Sprint smart phones for places that provide all kinds of services in the community, and 3) looked for all the different kinds of places that provided services (from food, transportation and housing to social services, medical care and other services).

Once the assets in the communities are mapped, the data is uploaded to an on-line information center at www.Southsidehealth.org. When it is completed, community residents and community-based organizations can use the website to:

View a comprehensive list of the resources and services available in their neighborhoods that impact the overall health of a community.
List services of South Side community organizations.
Provide information about many types of places: private businesses, non-profit health and social service organizations, and public agencies.
Create information maps of their area.

Keywords: asset mapping, businesses, organizations, youth